Ember Island: One Year Later
by whitelotus17
Summary: It's been one year since the end of the war and the group is reunited at Ember Island where they will encounter drama, romance and friendship. The tension between Mai and a jealous Katara is revealed while their respective relationships are expanded upon.
1. Arrival

Arrival

It was nearly the anniversary of the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai and Aang wanted to do something special for his friends. He was spending most of his time with Katara at the Southern Water Tribe when he suggested it to her one day.

"Like a vacation or something, I don't know. We haven't seen them in a while." This was true; Katara hadn't seen her brother in a few months. She immediately sent a message to Kyoshi Island which she knew would be relayed to Suki and Ty Lee. A message was sent to Toph in Omashu, and another message was sent to Zuko and Mai, who were residing at the Fire Nation Palace. They were the couple that Katara had not seen in the longest time. Aang frequently made visits to the Fire Nation to talk with Zuko, attend meetings or to give advice, but Katara hardly ever accompanied him. Within a week, the dates were set for a vacation to Ember Island at Zuko's beach house.

Sokka, Suki, and Ty Lee were the first to arrive at the old beach house. Sokka at first had had trouble accepting Ty Lee, but she and Suki were close friends and the rest of the Kyoshi warriors seemed very fond of their newest addition. The three trekked up the mossy stone steps towards the house, but just before they were able to open the door, a great shadow passed over them. They looked up to see Appa gliding smoothly to land in the courtyard at the center of the beach house.

"Appa!" Sokka exclaimed. He shoved the door open, dropped his bags at the entrance, and then rushed into the courtyard.

"Appa!" He yelled again, then hugged one of the bison's huge legs, "I've missed you buddy." Momo flew down from the saddle. "And.. Momo! Oh Momo, I think I've missed you most of all!" The lemur cocked its head at Sokka.

"Um, Sokka?" Katara had lowered herself from the saddle along with Aang.

"Katara! Aang!" He hugged both of them. Sokka truly missed traveling with Aang and Katara. He had spent nearly every day of his life with them for over a year, and throughout the last year had only seen them a handful of times.

Suddenly a great crash was heard from outside of the house.

"That'll be Toph," Suki said, hurrying to the door. Ty Lee remained behind to greet Katara and Aang and to help them with their stuff. Toph was soon in the courtyard, and the place was filled with energetic talk and laughter.

"Guys! Come outside!" Sokka had gone to the front door to retrieve his stuff. The cluster of people made their way onto the stone steps.

"It's Mai!" Ty Lee cheered. She was correct; a very small Fire Nation ship was coming to a stop at the dock. Mai was standing stoically at the bow with her hands held in front of her. Zuko emerged from the ship, his hair down from its usual topknot. His face was happy and peaceful. He waved at his friends from the ship, a slight smile on his face. Mai's lips curved into a very small smile as well. She was feeling shy at the sight of the entourage that had come to greet them.

Mai and Zuko were helped into the house, and then everyone was out in the courtyard again talking and hugging. Ty Lee was the only one brave enough to throw herself at Mai for a hug. Mai appeared uncomfortable, but gave a short, quiet laugh and patted her friend on the back as a way of returning the hug. Eventually, Katara and Suki prepared a nice dinner and everyone went outside to eat around the campfire.

Aang was enjoying himself. He laughed at Sokka's jokes and appreciated Ty Lee's bubbly energy. But then, he became uncomfortable. He noticed that Sokka had his arm around Suki and she would sometimes rest her head on his shoulder. He noticed that Mai was leaning on Zuko and he was looking at her in a way that clearly said he could not get enough of her. Aang glanced sideways at Katara. She was laughing at a comment that Toph had made. She looked so pretty when she was laughing. The way the fire danced in her wide blue eyes mesmerized him. He wondered, "Should I put my arm around her? Hold her hand? Gaze at her lovingly?" But even saying those words in his head sounded awkward. Sure, he loved Katara. He had hugged her and held her hand and even kissed her. But not in public, not in front of all of their friends. He started to calm himself down saying that of course Sokka would put his arm around his girlfriend without thinking about it. Sokka was not shy nor was he subtle. And Mai and Zuko had gotten used to their affection being public, with him as the Fire Lord. But Aang still felt like he should just reach out and grasp Katara's hand. It was right there, right next to him. He could just put his hand on top of hers, just very casually-

But before he was able to, the plates were being picked up and people were meandering back towards the house to get some sleep. Zuko noticed that Aang was staying by the fire and remained seated as well. Mai picked up his plate and left. Soon it was just Aang and Zuko. The two had become very close friends. Aang's visits to the Fire Nation were refreshing and helpful, and Aang had taken a great liking to Zuko's leadership style.

Zuko began discussing the most recent plans for Republic City, the city he and Aang were planning as a way to reunite the four nations. Normally plans for the city excited Aang, but tonight, he was less than enthusiastic. Zuko stopped talking and began to peer at Aang interestedly.

"What's wrong, Aang?" Zuko had certainly become more perceptive during his year as Fire Lord. Aang sighed and looked at his feet.

"It's nothing. Really. It's stupid." He couldn't hold Katara's hand. He knew that he loved her, but he still felt so awkward around her.

"Girl trouble?" Zuko asked, a knowing look on his face. Aang looked up, surprised. Zuko let out a short laugh. "She loves you. You know that already."

"But, you and Mai, Sokka and Suki." Aang hardly had to organize his thoughts, but Zuko understood.

"Not all couples are the same. And different people perceive relationships differently. Part of it has to do with culture. From what I've heard about the air temples…"

"We were taught to seek love first and to not concern ourselves with the physical representations of love. Those are false." Aang recited. Zuko tilted his head.

"False?" he murmured curiously. "It's different in the Fire Nation. There is love, but there is a focus on passion and excitement, not always a good thing. Sometimes relationships become based on fear; there have not been many strong relationships in the Fire Nation. My parents, my grandparents. Even our relationship with the rest of the world has been weak. We handle relationships differently partly because of where we come from."

"Yeah, I guess. But that's not it. I kind of feel left behind almost, like Katara and I are trying to catch up to the rest of you, but we just can't. We're still so awkward in public." Aang sighed.

"You and Katara are still young. You have a lot of a good, strong relationship ahead of you. You don't need to rush." Aang noted that Zuko sounded a lot like his uncle when he was giving advice.

"I just feel like she expects.." he trailed off.

"Don't worry. She doesn't. And I know Katara, if she did expect anything more, she wouldn't just wait around. I think that both of you are happy how you are. And you should stop worrying." He smiled towards the doorway where Aang knew that Mai was waiting for him. "And I should go to bed, see Mai."

Aang bowed his head, "Good night, Zuko."

"Good night, Aang"


	2. Stilettos

Stilettos

The past year as Fire Lord had been challenging for Zuko. He was stressed out from the days full of long meetings and arguments. Besides coming up with the plans for Republic City, Zuko was working on plans to reconfigure certain aspects of the Fire Nation and to help rebuild and aid places such as Omashu and the Northern and Southern Water tribes after the devastating attacks they had suffered.

This vacation was the perfect remedy. He was lying on the beach after a particularly interesting fire duel with Aang. The sun was just about to touch the horizon. Toph and Katara were bending the wet sand at the shore while Ty Lee and Suki half practiced new moves and techniques, half goofed off. Sokka was watching them cartwheel around the beach while Momo sat on his shoulder. Everything was perfect except, where was Mai? She had left a few minutes ago, but Zuko didn't know where she had gone off to. The question was pushed from his mind when he saw a servant walking down the steps to the beach.

"Fire Lord Zuko. We just received a hawk from an advisor. He says that he needs to speak with you and that he will be here shortly."  
"Here? Now? I'm on vacation! What could be so important that he would interrupt me on vacation?" The others stopped their games at this flash of rage that could be so familiar in Zuko sometimes.

"I'm sorry sir, I do not know. He says it's urgent." Zuko sighed and calmed himself down. Whatever it was, he would have to go. Hopefully he could make the meeting quick and return to the beach as soon as possible.

"I'll be in my study waiting for him." Zuko said. He trudged up to his study, dreading the meeting. He didn't even bother changing out of the loose pants and relaxed tunic he was wearing. Hopefully his advisor would get the message.

When he entered the study, Zuko headed towards his desk, figuring he would go over some notes, maybe prepare something as a way of shortening the meeting. But before he could reach his desk he heard a sharp whirring sound in the air, and before he knew it, was pinned to the wall. The knives ripped into the thin fabric of his tunic. Mai stepped out from behind the door, a gleam in her eyes.

"Mai!" Zuko shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Mai said passively, and then stood on her toes to kiss him on the lips. Out of instinct, Zuko wanted to touch her, but the knives would not budge from the wall. She began to kiss his neck, sending shivers to his lower back.

"Mai" he said softly, and then a little more loudly and urgently, "Mai! Not right now. An advisor-"

"There is no advisor, Zuko." She began kissing him again and Zuko felt relieved and happy. More than ever, he wanted to hug her, to hold her and to kiss her back, but he couldn't and she just continued to tease him with her kisses. After a few minutes of this torture, which seemed agonizingly long to Zuko, he looked in her eyes.

"Mai," he said softly, trying to communicate how desperately he wanted free, how he would kiss her fiercely the moment he was able to. She smiled, her eyes flashed.

"I suppose I've let you suffer long enough." Two knives suddenly appeared from within her sleeves. They cut along the sleeves of his white tunic, and just before they reached his collar, Zuko felt a sudden sharpness at his collarbone. His eyes widened in shock. She had nicked him. A tiny cut was now bleeding slowly.

"Mai," he gasped. She stared back at him, her face expressionless. But he was free now, and he embraced her and kissed her just as fiercely as he had promised.

oOoOo

Mai sighed, her head resting in the crook of Zuko's neck. He smiled sleepily at her.

"That was.. surprising. Why did you..?"

"I was bored," Mai responded passively.

"Of course," Zuko couldn't help but smile. Without warning, Mai pushed herself off of the lounge in Zuko's study. She attempted to fix her messed up hair and pointed at Zuko's desk.

"There's an extra shirt for you there. I'm going to get ready for dinner," and she abruptly walked out of the room, her back perfectly straight, and her hands in front of her. When the door shut, Zuko jumped off of the couch and pulled on the tunic which was nearly identical to his previous one. He turned towards the wall, thinking that he had better remove the knives, but before he had taken a step, the door behind him burst open.

Katara and Aang jumped into the room, closely followed by what looked like the rest of their friends.

"Zuko! We thought we heard noises. Where is that advisor you were meeting?" Aang said, his voice loud and strong.

"Um, he left. Noises?" Zuko was thankful that he was fully clothed and hoping that they would not notice the shirt pinned to the wall.

"Yeah, bumps, and some noises, like shouting." Suki piped up. Zuko cursed inwardly. His study was overlooking the area where his friends had been playing. And he and Mai hadn't been extremely quiet.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed, "Are those knives in the wall?" She strode over to the wall behind him and inspected the knives pinning the thin fabric of his now ruined tunic to the wall. She frowned, "Did.. Mai do this?" She looked shocked and confused. "Zuko, you're bleeding!"

Suki and Ty Lee inspected the wall as well when suddenly Ty Lee laughed a tinkling laugh.

"Oh, I see what's going on here." She laughed again and Suki smiled in agreement. Sokka started laughing too and clapped Zuko on the back, much to his embarrassment. They left with Toph, who was in stitches, leaving just Zuko, Aang, and Katara in the room.

"Zuko…what?" Katara asked. "Mai did this?" Zuko nodded carefully. Katara looked upset. Aang was glancing worriedly at her. "Zuko, that's not love. That's just—that's just pain."

oOoOo

Zuko was troubled by Katara's words. He loved Mai, and he loved the time they spent as just the two of them. As he walked down the hall, he wished that Katara and Aang had not caught him like that.

Mai was wearing a casual red beach outfit. She was sitting at the vanity tying thin ribbons in her hair when Zuko walked in. He dropped the knives and scrapped fabric on the vanity.

"Everyone walked in and saw the knives; they all know what happened." Mai's eyebrows scrunched together just slightly.

"Hm, I had hoped that we would get away with it. Oh well."

"That's not all though. I think that Katara and Aang, well, Katara at least, is kind of freaked out."

"Oh." Mai looked at herself in the mirror, thinking. "I'm sorry. I suppose there's not much we can do about that." Her face was perfectly calm, if not unconcerned, but Zuko had a feeling that she felt troubled by this.

"Don't be sorry. I just thought that you should know." He leaned down into the mirror's reflection and kissed her on the neck. "Anyways, it was worth it."


	3. Ocean

Ocean

Dinner that night would have been completely fine, were it not for Katara. The others seemed to have brushed off the earlier incident as a rather funny joke. Katara however was sending Zuko worried glances, and was sending Mai hostile glares. She clearly disapproved. She even went so far as to offer to heal the tiny cut on Zuko's collarbone, which had nearly healed on its own already:

"It really wouldn't be any trouble; it would just take a second."

"No. Thank you," Zuko replied steadily across the campfire. Mai's unfocused eyes came to rest on Katara, her gaze haughty and irate. An icy chill seemed to settle over the group, making everyone feel uncomfortable.

"Keeping it as a souvenir, Zuko?" Sokka elbowed him, breaking up the awkwardness. Everyone, including Aang, laughed appreciatively. But Katara just looked even more frustrated. Zuko smiled at Sokka's joke and glanced at Mai, who was thankful that Sokka had lessened the awkwardness of the dinner conversation.

After dinner, the fire was extinguished. Everyone slowly headed back to the house, but Aang remained outside with Katara; she was still clearly upset. They began to walk along the beach.

"Katara, I know you're unhappy. But really, it's their business. Even if you don't think it's right-"

"Their business? They made it our business when they left those- those _knives_ stuck in the wall!" she exclaimed.

"No. They didn't. That was an accident, and it's still their private life. We can't intrude, and even if you could, why would you want to?" His voice was calm, but Aang felt a twinge of anger at Katara. She turned straight towards Aang and stopped walking.

"Because, Aang, I'm worried about him. Aren't you? She _cut _him, Aang. With a _knife._"

"No, I'm not worried about him. He can handle this himself, and honestly, it seems as though there's nothing really to handle," Aang shrugged, "Zuko knows what he's doing, and he seems completely fine."

"Fine!"

"Katara!" Aang's voice was suddenly assertive. Why did she care so much about this? So much about Zuko? "Why can't you just stop worrying about him and worry about something else, like our relationship maybe?" The words were out before he could stop them. Katara paused, her face shocked and hurt.

"Our relationship? Aang, we don't do anything like that."

"Yeah, we don't _do_ anything. And I really do love you, Katara. But it's as though…" Realization hit Katara.

"Oh Aang, I'm sorry. I love you, too. I guess we just don't really show it all the time." The couple leaned towards each other and carefully tilted their heads. They kissed. Aang put his arms around Katara, and she returned the gesture. His hands found their way into her hair. This kiss was strangely heightened. There was passion and need and want, rather than the simple quiet love they had enjoyed before.

oOoOo

"Well, she doesn't like me. I know that," Mai drawled lazily. She was sitting at the vanity releasing her hair from its ribbons. "The others, Sokka, Suki, Toph, I guess they don't really know me, but they do like me. Or at least they don't dislike me."

"Since when have you cared about being liked?" Zuko was already lying in bed, his back against a stack of pillows.

"I don't. But she doesn't think that I'm good for you. That, I care about."

"Mai, She can think that all she wants, but she will not change our relationship." Mai had no outward reaction to these words, but Zuko knew that she liked hearing them.

"I suppose so," she set her brush down and rose from the seat. "I know that she can't change anything." Mai crawled into bed beside Zuko and put her head on his chest. "I love you." Zuko was pleasantly surprised at her words. Mai did not often vocalize her feelings for him, especially without him having said it first.

"I love you too, Mai. Good night." And then just a few minutes later, "Mai?"

"Mhmm?" she sighed.

"I can't sleep."

The couple left their room to go for a walk on the beach. The ocean, like the sky, was a rich black, containing shiny silver reflections of moonlight. Zuko put his arm around Mai and pulled her close.

"Mai?"

"Yeah?"

"I really love you." His voice sounded hoarse and desperate.

"Zuko, I know that. I love you, too." She was feeling tired, her feet just moving one in front of the other; the sound of the tide was relaxing.

"I mean, I really love you. I need to be with you, and I don't want this to end, it's just so perfect."

"It is perfect, isn't it?" She smiled sleepily.

"Yeah, it is." He kept walking, his steps lazy and casual. The sound of the tide was so soothing and the velvety blackness of the beach was quiet and dense around them. "Mai, I want to marry you." She stopped walking. She felt like her world stopped along with her. She felt suddenly alert. Zuko stopped as well, only to give her a sappy smile, his eyes glazed and tired. The sound of the ocean seemed muffled.

"Really?" Although it was dark outside, Mai could see the details of Zuko's face and she looked up at him, thinking about how much she loved this face and how amazing it was that he wanted to marry her.

"Yeah, I really do. I've wanted to for the longest time. I always thought that we would, but I'm asking you now: will you marry me?" Mai looked up into Zuko's eyes and smiled a rare smile. The smile reached her eyes and she opened her mouth:

"Yes of course, Zuko. Of course I will marry you." She hugged him tightly, her head was pressed into his chest, and he breathed in the scent of her hair.


	4. Knife Throwing

Knife Throwing

Ty Lee was awake, dressed, and had just finished tying her hair into a long braid. She was humming to herself cheerily, her wide eyes gazing out of the window at the sunshine. Toph, her roommate, was just beginning to pull herself out of bed. Ty Lee saw Toph, and immediately stopped humming. Her hair was a mess and she looked very grumpy.

"What are you looking at, princess?"

Katara and Suki were both already up. The girls had finished getting dressed and were about to leave their room when Suki said,

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what were you and Aang doing by the beach last night?" Katara blushed.

"Just talking. Nothing really."

"Yeah sure, just talking," Suki smiled knowingly.

Aang woke up in the room that he was sharing with Sokka, and stretched. He noticed that outside it was a mild day and that Sokka was still soundly asleep and snoring loudly.

"Sokka? Wake up. Let's get some breakfast."

"Inna minute, more sleep," and he turned over in his bed.

Mai woke up with her head on Zuko's chest. The sunlight was dappled in their room and she began to move around, feeling more relaxed and content than she had in a while. She looked up at Zuko's sleeping face and felt perfect inside. She stayed like that for a few minutes and soon Zuko began to stir. He sighed, stretched, and opened his eyes. He looked down at Mai and they smiled at each other, both of them remembering last night's walk by the beach.

The entire group made their way into the eating area where there was a big plate of fruit for breakfast. Once everyone had sat down with a plate of fruit, Zuko stood up.

"Everyone?" he quickly got the small crowd's attention. Mai had been dreading announcing the news. She knew that it was unrealistic, but she wanted to keep their proposal secretive. She did not want her friends outrush of enthusiasm, and deep down, feared their disapproval. But this was naïve; Mai had recently come to the realization that she was the future Fire Lady, and this could certainly not be kept a secret. Zuko beamed at her; he was so excited to tell his friends. "Mai and I have an announcement." She stood up at her seat next to Zuko. "We have decided to get married."

There was an intense reaction to this news. Their friends cheered and got up out of their seats. Ty Lee threw herself at Mai for an enthusiastic hug. Even Suki and Aang hugged Mai affectionately. Everyone was clapping Zuko on the back and voicing their congratulations. Aang gave Zuko a brotherly hug while Katara said, "that's great guys!" but awkwardly avoided Mai's eyes. Sokka exclaimed, "Oh you crazy kids!" while Ty Lee was gushing about Mai's future position as the Fire Lady.

"Let's have an engagement party tonight!" Suki said.

Toph agreed, "Yeah, let's have a party."

Zuko nodded, "I sent a note to Uncle last night and recruited one of our fastest ships to bring him here. His return message was here when I woke up this morning saying that he left as soon as possible and should arrive late this afternoon. A party this evening is an excellent idea."

Ty Lee and Suki began making party plans and Toph, Katara, Sokka and Aang decided to go down the beach to play some games. Mai was being very quiet. She was a little overwhelmed at all of the attention she had just received. It did make her happy, but she felt like being alone and maybe practicing her knife throwing. Zuko kissed her on the top of the head and went down to the beach with the rest of the group.

Mai walked into the silent courtyard and allowed herself to bask in the peace and quiet. She was wearing her deep red robes, not her simple beach outfit, meaning she had knives and stilettos attached to her concealed wrists and ankles. Mai looked around the courtyard and created targets for herself from the intersections of pieces of stone. She breathed deeply, paused, and then spun around suddenly, fiercely throwing her weapons so that they precisely hit all of her imaginary targets. After throwing, she was frozen in an offensive stance. She breathed deeply once more and then stood up to retrieve her knives.

"You're really good at that." Mai was surprised to hear the Avatar's voice; she had not heard his footsteps, but she showed no outward sign of shock. She turned around to see that he was sitting on a spinning ball of air.

"Why aren't you at the beach?" His ball of air disappeared and he sat down on the stone steps

"I left so that there would be even teams. Will you teach me that?"

"Teach you what?"

"Knife throwing!" Mai looked at Aang carefully and then removed her knives from the grout between the stones and gave him two of them. He held them like daggers, but Mai adjusted his hands so that he was holding them more like brushes.

"You need to flick your wrist and release the knife at the correct moment." She pointed out his targets and told him to start by breathing deeply and focusing hard. Aang spun like he had seen her do and flicked his wrist, but released his knife too late so that it missed its target. He then threw the second one too early and used airbending so that it flew directly into the grout. He grinned at Mai, who, to his surprise, looked amused at his use of airbending. They continued practicing until Aang was able to hit a few targets successfully. Mai then did a complicated demonstration for him on a few techniques that he could learn on his own.

"If you want to be precise, you have to completely focus on your target," she ended her lesson.

"How did you get so good at that?" Aang asked. Mai laughed sarcastically.

"My childhood was boring. I would throw knives around my room out of boredom until eventually I became good at it." She shrugged, and sat down next to him on the stone steps.

"I mean at focusing. How did you learn to be so…" he didn't want to say emotionless, but she said it for him.

"Emotionless?"

"I guess."

"For the same reason. I had a boring childhood. If I was quiet and respectful, I would avoid trouble. I had to learn to control myself."

"That sounds awful, like Toph's parents."

"In a way. My parents are very concerned with social status, like Toph's and like Ty Lee's. They will be overjoyed to hear that I'm the new Fire Lady." Mai rolled her eyes. Aang laughed.

"Have you and Ty Lee been friends since you were little?"

"Yeah, Azula met us at the Fire Nation Academy for girls and decided that she liked us. Ty Lee of course, worshipped her. I was just happy for something to do. And I didn't mind visiting the palace." She smiled to herself. "In the end though, Ty Lee really saved my life when she came to her senses; I couldn't have defended myself against Azula after letting those prisoners escape."

"At the Boiling Rock, you mean?" Mai nodded.

"I did wonder, I mean, I know you were on our side, but if you couldn't have protected yourself, and if you weren't sure that Ty Lee would help you, why did you do it? I'm not sure what I would have done if I was defenseless against Azula."

"Azula would have let them die. I did have one thing on my side though." Mai remembered her old friend. When she went insane, Mai felt pity for her, but was not surprised. "Azula gained control through fear. Because of this, she was not a good judge of people. She was manipulative, but when people are frightened by you, they don't trust you and you never learn enough about them. Especially with someone like me, I'm a better liar than Azula is and she misjudged where my loyalty lie." Aang looked impressed.

"Azula's a really good liar."

"She is. But I'm better. I was scared of her, I can't deny that. But I loved Zuko more, and Azula could never scare me enough to stop that."


	5. Trust Earned

Trust Earned

When Aang and Mai walked down to the beach, Aang noticed that Katara was sitting alone by the ocean, lazily bending the water. Mai joined Suki and Ty Lee so that she could approve their party plans and Aang walked to the water and sat by Katara. In the two years since they had met, Aang had grown taller than Katara, and their relationship had turned very loving. She stopped bending and leaned over so that her head was on his shoulder. Aang's heartbeat quickened at her sudden show of affection, but she seemed down.

"You okay?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, I am. I'm actually having a lot of fun." Katara felt guilty for her less-than-enthusiastic reaction to Zuko and Mai's news.

"You don't look like you're having fun."

"No, I am. I really like this vacation and I'm so happy that Zuko and Mai are getting married, although they do seem a little young" Katara's blue eyes turned critical, and Aang gave her a look that clearly said 'let it go.' "I just feel like I'm on a completely different page as them. I don't really agree with them about anything!"

"I kind of know what you mean. Zuko talked about this with me a little. He said that people handle relationships differently because of where they're from. I guess they just do things differently in the Fire Nation."

"So there are no normal couples in the Fire Nation?"

"Katara!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I really do like them both. I like Zuko, and Mai's okay, I don't really know her and I don't think that she likes me at all." Katara shook her head.

"You and Mai are very different people. She is reserved, while you express your opinions—"

"Yeah! It's like she doesn't care about anything!" Katara burst out.

"Almost like that," Aang laughed, "But it's obvious that's not true." Aang laughed again, as though Mai's façade was just adorable.

"What do you mean?" Katara raised an eyebrow. Mai didn't care about anything, right?

"Well, she really does care about a lot of things. I was talking to her just now."

"About?"

"Well, first she was teaching me some knife throwing. Then we talked a little, and it was really nice."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She told me a lot of things. I could tell that she really values Ty Lee's friendship, not that she would ever admit it."

"Well that's just awful that she wouldn't admit that she cares about someone's friendship!"

"It's just her way, Katara. It's not that she doesn't care, she just rarely shows it. And of course when it comes to Zuko-" Aang smiled and shook his head.

"What?"

"She cares about him more than anything. It's almost funny, how she shows no emotion, but when it comes to Zuko she can't help it, like with that stunt that she pulled at the Boling Rock. It all had to do with protecting Zuko, even though she was going against Azula."

Katara glanced over at Mai who was shrugging her narrow shoulders at all of Ty Lee and Suki's enthusiastic party plans. She had seen her throw her knives before, but it was hard to imagine her fighting to protect Zuko while going against Azula. It was so brave, such an act of passion that it almost didn't fit.

"You know Katara, she saved a lot of people that day. She intended to save Zuko, but in the process saved Sokka, Suki, and your dad." Katara's wide eyes were questioning. "They were all trying to escape, and Azula would have let all of them fall into the boiling water at the prison."

"Wow." Katara breathed. "I knew about them escaping, but Zuko never mentioned her saving them."

"I know. I think that he was scared. Afterwards, she was kept in prison, and I think that he felt a pretty guilty about the whole thing, remember, he never really talked about her. I think that she and Zuko are very good for each other. Remember, you didn't like Zuko at first either. He had to earn your trust. Maybe you and Mai just haven't had that yet."

But Katara disagreed. After talking with Aang, she felt as though Mai had completely earned her trust and more for saving her family.

oOoOo

Sokka and Suki were eating lunch together under an umbrella on the beach. The others were still playing around on the beach, not yet ready for lunch. Suki watched as Sokka stuffed food into his face. The other girls, his sister, Ty Lee, and Mai looked appropriately disgusted at Sokka's manners anytime they stole a glance at the couple. The expression on Suki's face however, was affectionate. She didn't mind his habit of talking with food in his mouth. In fact, she thought that a Sokka that ate politely just wouldn't be Sokka at all.

"So Suki?" he asked, putting an arm casually around her, crumbs falling from his mouth. She raised an eyebrow at him. The combination of "suave" Sokka, and messy Sokka just after eating made her laugh.

"Yeah?" Her face was amused.

"You ever think maybe you and I might, oh I don't know, start something?"

"Start something? Start what exactly?" Her blue green eyes looked up at him. He allowed himself to gaze into them, mesmerized by the colors and the piercing fire that seemed to live within them. He snapped back to his suave self.

"You know."

"I suppose by 'start something' you mean some sort of relationship. Which confuses me because we're already in a serious relationship."

"_Yeah_ we are." He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively and she groaned.

"Sokka," her voice sounded serious. "What do you actually mean by 'start something'?" He looked a little nervous. Smooth Sokka was gone, and now confused Sokka was in his place.

"I don't know. I guess I didn't mean anything. Just, the whole Mai and Zuko being engaged thing has got me thinking about what I want out of our relationship." Suki smiled very softly and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You're so sweet Sokka, and I love you a lot, but there's no rush. Our relationship can progress naturally. Unlike Mai and Zuko, we don't have political advisors pressuring us constantly." She laughed. Sokka laughed too.

"Yeah, sucks to be them!" He burst out. But then upon looking at Mai holding Zuko's hand as they walked inside for lunch, he felt a little envious of how serious their relationship was. He knew that it definitely did not 'suck to be them.'


End file.
